Banco Santander buys Carfinco

Juan Rodriguez Inciarte, senior executive V-P and head of strategy at Santander, said “This agreement with Carfinco allows us to enter a market with good growth potential such as Canada, where we hope to reach agreements with other car manufacturers like those we have signed in other countries.”

“We look forward to becoming a division of Santander, one of the top banks in the world, and recognize the benefits their wealth of knowledge, experience and relationships in the auto finance industry will bring to the Canadian market,” said Tracy Graf, CEO of Carfinco.

“Santander will leverage from Mr. Graf's expertise and knowledge of the Canadian market and expects that his contribution in this new phase will lead to a rapid growth in the coming years,” Inciarte said.

Carfinco is also active in the United States in the non-prime vehicle-financing segment through its wholly owned and separately operated subsidiary Persian Acceptance Corp.

As part of the deal, Carfinco is to sell its interest in PAC.

In February 2013, Banco Santander subsidiary, Santander Consumer USA, became Chrysler USA’s captive acting under the Chrysler Capital name. Santander Consumer USA is also one of the biggest subprime auto lenders in the American market.

Founded in 1857, Santander says it is the largest bank in the euro zone by market capitalization and the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America. It is also active in the northeast United States.